October 2021

THE MAGAZINE OF THE NEW JERSEY JAZZ SOCIETY

JerseyJazz

OCTOBER 2021 VOLUME 49 ISSUE 09

JAZZ AT WILLIAM PATERSON

A Tribute to Art Farmer

IN THIS ISSUE

ON THE COVER _ Art Farmer playing his first flumpet.

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ARTICLES/REVIEWS

COLUMNS

08

Education Preview

03

All That’s Jazz

09

Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon

05

Editor’s Choice

11

Big Band in the Sky: George Wein

38

Dan’s Den

49

Not Without You

18

Jazz at William Paterson: Art Farmer

24

Rising Star: Sean Mason

27

Talking Jazz: Joe Farnsworth

33

Bass and Beyond: Leon Lee Dorsey

40

Book Review: Texas Jazz Singer

41

Other Views JERSEY JAZZ

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ALL THAT’S JAZZ Happy 49th Birthday to the New Jersey Jazz Society!

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ncorporated in 1972, NJJS has remained dedicated to our mission to promote and preserve jazz.

Though founding fathers Jack Stine and Chuck Slate are now part of the Big Band in the Sky, many of you have been involved with the Society since it’s early years, and we thank you for your decades-long memberships and support. To those of you who are new to the Society, we welcome you and look forward to celebrating with you for years to come.

Circumstances over the years have brought changes to NJJS but one thing has remained steadfast throughout time - our collective love and devotion to this great American art form. Long live NJJS.

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L. Hank Allen-Barfield, M. Matthew Holmes, R. Leonieke Scheuble at Acorn Hall Morristown, NJ

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t’s such a privilege for me to get to brag on young, talented jazz musicians - especially when those musicians are students in one of the five jazz studies programs with which NJJS has a relationship. Such is the case with pianist Leonieke Scheuble, bassist Matthew Holmes,

and drummer Hank Allen-Barfield, two current students and one alum of William Paterson University.

Having never worked a gig together as an ensemble, bandleader Scheuble deftly led what felt like a well-seasoned trio to provide an evening of incredible music for the Mor-

ris County Historical Society’s anniversary reception celebrating their 75th year of incorporation and their 50th year of stewardship for the magnificent Acorn Hall. Congratulations to MCHS Executive Director Amy Curry, the Board of Trustees and staff on this auspicious occasion. Thank you for including jazz - New Jersey has a rich history with America’s art form - and me in this wonderful event.

More than just showcasing their superb musicianship, the trio oozed with poise and grace as they had to be relocated due to inclement weather and to accommodate dignitaries, speeches and touring guests. In other words, they were all things jazz - smooth and cool, improvisational, and they never lost their connection as an ensemble, nor their connection to the musical conversation. The future of jazz is bright. And let me just say, these cats have it going on!

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PHOTO BY CY D NEY HAL PIN

BY CY DNE Y HA LPIN

ALL THAT’S JAZZ

T

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L. Stew Schiffer R. Jay Dougherty

many generous donations of used records, CDs, and books, with recent donations from the Cooke family of East Orange, David Banas, Ron Naspo and Mitzi Kleinberg. We thank them for their generosity and are so grateful for their stewardship.

While these gifts produce much needed revenue for NJJS, the collecting, handling, sorting, cataloguing, etc., of these wares is a Herculean task! Join me in thanking board members James Pansulla,

Jay Dougherty, and Treasurer Dave Dilzell for all of their incredible efforts in managing this enterprise.

If you’re interested in purchasing any of our records, CDs or Mosaic® Limited Edition CD Box Sets, please visit our website njjs.org/Donate/Merchandise to consult the inventory lists. If you have gently used items that you’d like to donate, please contact us at merchandise@njjs.org to discuss and assess your donation.

P

lease join me Thursday, October 21st at 7 p.m. for our Virtual October Social. This concert is part of our “Rising Stars” presentations and will feature the Baker Street Trio. The concert will stream on our website homepage as well as on the New Jersey Jazz Society Facebook page and YouTube channel. You’re not going to want to miss this event! For more information on these incredible young talents, see, ‘Editor’s Choice’, page 5.

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PHOTOS BY CYD NEY HALP IN

he operations of the New Jersey Jazz Society are funded through membership, donations, small grants and merchandise sales.

On Saturday, September 25th, NJJS had a sales booth at the Montclair Jazz Festival which proved to be both exciting and exhausting, and generated a critical source of revenue for programming through the end of the year. Thank you board members James Pansulla, Jay Dougherty, and Stew Schiffer for volunteering for this event and making the day such a success.

I’d like to extend a special thank you to Katie McCaffrey, Lee Hogans and Ashley Ferraro at Jazz House Kids for all of their help in assuring NJJS had a successful day. We’re very grateful for your thoughtfulness and support.

Over the last five years, NJJS has been the blessed recipient of

EDITOR’S CHOICE

BY SA NFO RD JOS EPHSON

Past, Present, and Future of Jazz

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n the September issue of Jersey Jazz, we previewed the three jazz festivals—Central Jersey Jazz Festival (Flemington, New Brunswick, Metuchen, and Somerville), Morristown Jazz & Blues, and Montclair’s Grand Finale—occurring on successive September weekends in New Jersey, and, fortunately, the weather gods smiled on all three events.

The weather was nearly perfect.

Speaking of Montclair, the Grand Finale on September 25 got off to a powerful start at Lackawanna Plaza with a tribute to the late Roy Hargrove by the Jazz House Collective big band led by trumpeter Nathan Ecklund. It was truly an all-star band including, among others, trumpeters Freddie Hendrix and Ingrid Jensen; saxophonists Bruce Williams, Camille Thurman, Justin Robinson, Mike

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Lee, and Lauren Sevian; pianist Oscar Perez; and drummer Alvester Garnett.

The highlight, to me, was the band’s performance of the Harry Warren/Al Dubin standard, “September in the Rain”, which appeared on two of Hargrove’s albums—the 1991 Novus record, Public Eye, and the 1992 Elektra album, Eclipse. The former recording was with a quintet including alto saxophonist Antonio Hart, pianist Stephen Scott, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Billy Higgins. Eclipse was a big band recording on which Hargrove added a vocal to the Warren/ Dubin standard, a performance trumpeter Hendrix reprised in Montclair.

Alto saxophonist Sherman Irby was a member of Hargrove’s quartet for four years, and when I interviewed him a few months ago (“JALC on the Back Deck”, Jersey Jazz, July/August 2021), he said

Hargrove had a spirit, “that was infectious to everyone. Roy connected the older generation to the new generation.

It was unlike anything else I’ve ever experienced, sort of like Elvin Jones talking about playing in Coltrane’s band.”

At a street stage further west on Bloomfield Avenue, we got a glimpse into the future of jazz. The Baker Street Trio—Ben Collins-Siegel on keyboards, Ryoma Takenaga on bass, and Ben Schwartz on drums—were introduced by alto saxophonist Alex Laurenzi, who also played with the trio, along with trumpeter Ace Williams.

I saw Collins-Siegel for the first time in August 2019 at the Roselle Park Jazz Festival where, as a 12-year-old member of the JTole Jazz Orchestra, directed by alto saxophonist/educator Julius Tolentino, he played a stride piano solo to launch the band into Thad Jones’ “Counter Block” from the 1959 Count Basie Roulette album, Breakfast Dance and Barbeque. At that festival,

Tolentino told me, “He is playing well beyond his years and has a passion and drive for this music that is for real.”

(Jersey Jazz September/October 2019), Collins-Siegel next surfaced in the May/June 2020 issue of Jersey Jazz when we reported that he, along with Takenaga and drummer Koleby Royston, won Outstanding Soloist awards at the 12th annual Charles Mingus Festival & High School Competition at the New School of Jazz and the Jazz Standard in New York City.

Then, this past May we reported that Takenaga and Royston, along with trumpeter Williams, were accepted into the Carnegie Hall NYO Jazz Orchestra (Jersey Jazz, May 2021).

On Thursday, October 21st at 7 p.m., the Baker Street Trio will perform at NJJS’ October Virtual Social.

The concert will stream on the njjs.org home page as well as on the NJJS Facebook page and YouTube channel.

The future of jazz is, indeed, bright.

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ABOUT NJJS

F

ounded in 1972, The New Jersey Jazz Society has diligently maintained its mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form—jazz. To accomplish our mission, we produce a monthly magazine, Jersey Jazz; sponsor live jazz events; and provide scholarships to New Jersey college students studying jazz. Through our outreach program Generations of Jazz, we provide interactive programs focused on the history of jazz. The Society is run by a board of directors who meet monthly to conduct Society business. NJJS membership is comprised of jazz devotees from all parts of the state, the country and the world.

MEMBER BENEFITS

JOIN NJJS

10 FREE Concerts Annually at our “Sunday Socials”

Family/Individual $45 (Family includes to 2 Adults and 2 children under 18 years of age) Family/Individual 3-Year $115 Musician Member $45 / 3-Year $90 (one time only, renewal at standard basic membership level.)

Youth $15 - For people under 21 years of age. Date of Birth Required.

Give-A-Gift $25 - Members in good standing may purchase unlimited gift memberships.

Applies to New Memberships only.

Fan $75 - $99 Jazzer $100 - $249 Sideman $250 - $499 Bandleader $500+ Corporate Membership $1000

Monthly Award Winning Jersey Jazz Magazine - Featuring Articles, Interviews, Reviews, Events and More.

Discounts at NJJS Sponsored Concerts & Events.

Discounts at Participating Venues & Restaurants Support for Our Scholarship and Generations of Jazz Programs MUSICIAN MEMBERS

FREE Listing on NJJS.org “Musicians List” with Individual Website Link FREE Gig Advertising in our Monthly eBlast THE RECORD BIN

Visit www.njjs.org or email info@njjs.org for more information on our programs and services NJJS.ORG

A collection of CDs & LPs available at reduced prices at most NJJS concerts and events and through mail order www.njjs.org/Store

Members at Jazzer level and above and Corporate Membership receive special benefits. Please contact Membership@njjs.org for details. The New Jersey Jazz Society is qualified as a tax exempt cultural organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, Federal ID 23-7229339. Your contribution is taxdeductible to the full extent allowed by law. For more Information or to join, visit www.njjs.org

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Magazine of the New Jersey Jazz Society VO LU M E 49 • I SSUE 08

NJJS org

Editorial Staff

New Jersey Jazz Society, Officers 2021

EDITOR

PRESIDENT

Sanford Josephson, editor@njjs.org

Cydney Halpin, pres@njjs.org

ART DIRECTOR

EXECUTIVE VP

Michael Bessire, art@njjs.org

Jane Fuller, vicepresident@njjs.org

INTERNATIONAL EDITOR

TREASURER

Fradley Garner fradleygarner@gmail.com

Dave Dilzell, treasurer@njjs.org

CONTRIBUTING PHOTO EDITOR

membership@njjs.org

Mitchell Seidel, photo@njjs.org CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Noal Cohen, Bill Crow, Schaen Fox, Joe Lang, Dan Morgenstern, Jay Sweet CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Joseph Berg, Jack Grassa, Kasia Idzkowska, Mitchell Seidel, Carter Wade, Nathan West

Jersey Jazz (ISSN 07405928) is published monthly for members of The New Jersey Jazz Society

P.O. Box 223, Garwood, NJ 07027 908-380-2847 • info@njjs.org Membership fee is $45/year.

Periodical postage paid at West Caldwell, NJ Postmaster please send address changes to P.O. Box 223, Garwood, NJ 07027 All material in Jersey Jazz, except where another copyright holder is explicitly acknowledged, is copyright ©New Jersey Jazz Society 2020. All rights reserved. Use of this material is strictly prohibited without the written consent of the NJJS.

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WEBMASTER

Christine Vaindirlis

Advertising DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING

Jane Fuller, advertising@njjs.org ADVERTISING RATES

Full Page: $135, Half Page: $90, 1/3 Page: $60, 1/4 Page: $30 For reservations, technical information and deadlines contact advertising@njjs.org or visit njjs.org/Magazine/Advertise. Make payment at PayPal.com: payment@njjs.org, or via check made payable to NJJS, P.O. Box 223, Garwood, NJ 07027.

VP, MEMBERSHIP

VP, PUBLICITY

Sanford Josephson, sanford.josephson@gmail.com

VP, MUSIC PROGRAMMING

Mitchell Seidel, music@njjs.org RECORDING SECRETARY

Irene Miller CO -FOUNDER

Jack Stine

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Mike Katz DIRECTORS

Jay Dougherty, Cynthia Feketie, Pete Grice, Carrie Jackson, Mike Katz, Caryl Anne McBride, Robert McGee, James Pansulla, Stew Schiffer, Elliott Tyson, Jackie Wetcher ADVISORS

Don Braden, Ted Chubb, Al Kuehn, Jason Olaine JERSEY JAZZ

OCTOBER 2021

07

JAZZ EDUCATION SERIES Evolution of the Baritone Saxophone: A Personal Perspective

BY F RA N K BAS ILE

O

n October 17th, I’m pleased to be taking part in the New Jersey Jazz Society’s Jazz Education Series. As a professional baritone saxophonist, I’ve decided to speak from my perspective and focus on the six baritone saxophonists who have had the greatest influence on my own playing.

First up, chronologically, is Harry Carney. No list of the greatest baritone saxophonists would be complete without Carney. He was an integral part of the unique sound of Duke Ellington’s band, and the strength and beauty of his sound is unmatched.

Leo Parker was the first baritone saxophonist to incorporate the new sounds of bebop into his playing. Park-

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er’s baritone style combined the sonic majesty of Harry Carney, the bebop sensibility of Charlies Parker, and the rhythmic excitement of Illinois Jacquet.

Cecil Payne was another of the first exponents of bebop on the baritone saxophone. He had close associations with Dizzy Gillespie and Randy Weston; and he led a long and fruitful career.

Pepper Adams was and continues to be one of the most influential and innovative baritone saxophonists in jazz history. His playing was characterized by an adventurous sense of harmony, an assertive tone, and a witty sense of humor.

Ronnie Cuber started on the baritone as a member of the Newport Youth Band in 1959. Within a few years, he

found wide recognition as a member of George Benson’s first quartet, synthesizing the influence of Adams along with that of great tenor players such as Hank Mobley and John Coltrane into a very personal and engaging style.

Gary Smulyan was a die-hard alto saxophonist until he got called to join Woody Herman’s band on baritone.

He soon developed a deep affinity for the baritone saxophone and has gone on to become one of the greatest exponents of the instrument.

Since moving to New York in 2001, Frank Basile has been one of today’s most in-demand baritone saxophonists, performing or recording with the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Band, and the Jimmy Heath Big Band, among many others.. At 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, October 17, his presentation will be live streamed as part of the Jazz Education series jointly sponsored by the Metuchen Arts Council-Jazz and the New Jersey Jazz Society.

The presentation will be available on the njjs.org website as well as on the NJJS Facebook page and YouTube channel. Attendance is free, but donations are suggested. If you can’t watch it live, it will be archived on njjs.org and the NJJS YouTube channel.

(Editor’s Note: Gerry Mulligan, noticeably absent from Basile’s presentation, was the subject of July’s Jazz Education presentation, still available on the NJJS YouTube channel).

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JAZZ ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON Sentimental Journey Big Band Music of the ‘Greatest Generation’

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t 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 17th, at the Jay and Linda Grunin Center for the Arts in Toms River, the Sentimental Journey Big Band will celebrate the music of the Greatest Generation -- men and women born before the Roaring ‘20s but who soon faced the Great Depression and went to war in the 1940s.

“Our concert,” said SJBB Music Director Curt Morton, “begins with music from the 1920s including Fats Waller’s ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’’ and Creamer and Layton’s ‘Way Down Yonder in New Orleans’. We move on to the 1930s with the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and others. We delve into the 1940s and World War II with ‘G.I. Jive’ by Johnny Mercer and melodies popularized by Vera

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Lynn. The modern influence of the 1950s is represented by composers Gerry Mulligan and Dizzy Gillespie.”

Other tunes in the performance, he added, will include Hoagy Carmichael’s ‘Stardust”, Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg’s “Over the Rainbow”, and Louis Prima’s “Sing Sing Sing”.

Morton, an alto saxophonist/ clarinetist, co-directs the SJBB with his wife, vocalist Altha Morton. He

studied under bandleader Tommy Tucker at Monmouth College (now Monmouth University) and under vibraphonist Gary Burton at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

While pursuing a career in the County and State Courts as an investigator and supervisor in the Family Division, he always managed to play and teach music on the side. Now, he’s back on the bandstand full-time.

Altha Morton was originally a country-pop singer, once appearing with a group called the Squan River Band that opened for Johnny Cash.

She had a long career as a public

school music teacher but became exposed to jazz in the 1980s when she performed with clarinetist Kenny Davern, pianist Dick Wellstood, and bassist Jack Six in Manasquan.

The Sentimental Journey Big Band was founded by the late Frank Richetti in 1991. A resident of Brick, Richetti played trumpet with the 2nd Marine Air Wing Band during World War II. He turned over the band’s management to the Mortons in 2017. Richetti passed away in November 2019 at the age of 96.

The New Jersey Jazz Society is a proud sponsor of the Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series. To order tickets, log onto grunincenter@ocean.edu or call (732) 255-0500. In-person tickets will be sold in socially-distanced pods, and there is also a virtual viewing option. Visitors aged two and up must wear masks at all times when inside the Grunin Center, including when seated in the theater.

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY George Wein at Jack Kleinsinger’s Highlights in Jazz Concert in May 2013

George Wein: ‘Hooked’ by the Records of Armstrong and Lunceford

“More Than Anyone, George Set the Stage for What Great Festivals Today Look Like”

BY SA NFO RD JOS EPH SON

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Festival’s history—the performance by the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1956. That performance—sparked by a combination of “Diminuendo in Blue” and “Crescendo in Blue” highlighted by tenor saxophonist Paul Gonsalves’ extended solo, is credited with revitalizing Ellington’s career.

“Ellington called me on Thursday night,” Wein said, “and I asked him what he was going to do at the concert. He said he’d play a medley

PHOTO BY MITC HELL SEI DEL

I

n December 2013, as the Newport Jazz Festival was approaching its 60th anniversary, New Jersey Performing Arts Center President and CEO John Schreiber held an invitation-only evening of “music and conversation with George Wein.”

Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, died September 13, 2021, at the age of 95 in Manhattan. At the NJPAC event, he reminisced about one of the historic moments in the

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of favorites. I said, ‘I want to perpetuate the genius that is Ellington.

I’m not getting any help from you.’”

In his autobiography, Myself Among Others (DaCapo Press: 2003), co-written with Nate Chinen, Wein described what actually transpired at the concert. “At the proper moment, Gonsalves dug in with his tenor and started blowing. Somewhere around the seventh chorus, it happened. A young blonde woman in a stylish black dress sprung up out of her box seat and began to dance. She had caught the spirit, and everyone took notice—Duke included ... The tune ended, and the applause and cheering was immense—stronger, louder, and more massive than anything ever heard at a jazz concert before.”

I had the pleasure of interviewing Wein in June 2013 for my book, Jeru’s Journey: The Life and Music of Gerry Mulligan (Hal Leonard Books: 2015).

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George Wein at the NJPAC evening of “music and conversation”

While Wein was a great fan of Mulligan, he related to me an unpleasant occurrence at the very first Newport Jazz Festival in 1954. “I’d worked so hard to put together a reunion of Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, Lester Young, Buck Clayton, and Jo Jones,” Wein said. “It was re-creating the great Billie Holiday bands of the ‘30s—the first great records she made. Gerry was so moved by that, he jumped up on the stage to play with them. And, I didn’t

want him on the stage. I was really upset at that time. He disrupted the memory-feeling of what I was trying to get ... At his funeral, I talked about how I was very mad at him, but now I see that he belonged there because they’re all up in Valhalla together.”

Wein was born October 3, 1925, in Lynn, MA. His mother, Ruth, was an amateur pianist, and he began taking lessons when he was eight years old. In high school, he led a jazz band,

and, in his autobiography, he recalled his first exposure to the music of the big bands. His older brother, Larry, brought home a new record player, “and a batch of Decca Blue Label 35cent records. Louis Armstrong was on Decca, as well as Larry Clinton, Glenn Gray, and Jimmy Lunceford. The phonograph’s crackling warble didn’t filter out any of the kinetic excitement of those records—swing anthems like Lunceford’s ‘White Heat’ and Armstrong’s ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’. It was my first exposure to this kind of music. I was hooked.”

After graduating from Boston University in 1950, Wein opened a jazz club in Boston called Storyville, named after the red-light district of New Orleans, often cited as the place where jazz was born. In my book, Mulligan described Storyville as “a great club. It was a dinner restaurant and very classy-looking on the first

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PHOTO BY TONY GRAV ES

BIG BAND IN THE SKY

BIG BAND IN THE SKY floor. Then downstairs in this hotel was another room, smaller like a saloon ... Down there, he had traditional bands. We’d be playing upstairs, and maybe downstairs would be Jimmy McPartland and Vic Dickenson, and Pee Wee Russell. You’d meet all these wonderful guys, and we would have a grand time in the place.”

The success of Storyville drew the attention of Elaine Lorillard, a Newport socialite, who contacted Wein about producing a jazz festival, which she and her husband, tobacco magnate, Louis Lorillard, would fund. That became the first Newport Jazz Festival, in 1954. It wasn’t a financial success, but the reaction was very positive; and it became an annual Newport ritual until riots in 1960 forced its cancellation in 1961, although it resurfaced in 1962. The Festival moved to New York City in 1971 but returned to Newport in 1981.

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“ IN 1976, WEIN COLLABORATED WITH NEW JERSEY

JAZZ SOCIETY PRESIDENT JACK STINE TO PRESENT CONCERTS AT WATERLOO VILLAGE IN STANHOPE, NJ.” In 2007, Wein sold his Festival Productions company to Shoreline Media, remaining with the new company, Festival Network LLC. In 2016, Wein relinquished his position as Artistic Director of the Festival, handing over the reins to bassist Christian McBride. He performed on piano at the 2019 Festival, but did not attend this year’s event, citing his advanced age.

Wein also founded the Newport Folk Festival in 1959, best remembered, perhaps, for Bob Dylan’s appearance in 1965 when, to the consternation of the crowd, he played an

electric, rather than an acoustic, guitar.

In 1976, Wein collaborated with New Jersey Jazz Society President Jack Stine to present concerts at Waterloo Village in Stanhope, NJ, as part of the Newport Jazz Festival in New York. “The invasion of New Jersey by the Newport Festival,” wrote The New York Times’ John S. Wilson, “was inspired by another New Jersey Jazz Society activity, the annual Pee Wee Russell Memorial Stomp, which is held every February at the Martinsville Inn in Martinsville. Each year at the Stomp, the Society presents

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY

George Wein and Howard Alden

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plaques of commendation to two persons—a musician and a non-musician—whose activities in jazz are deemed outstanding. Last February, the non-musician’s plaque was sent to Mr. Wein. And, when the Newport Jazz Festival producer arrived at the Martinsville Inn that afternoon, he found the place so packed with fans listening to New Jersey jazz bands that he had trouble getting in.”

Wein told Wilson that he was, “astounded. Here were 900 people in a roadhouse on a rainy Sunday afternoon in mid-winter. It has to have some significance.” Among those who appeared at the first Waterloo/Newport program were the Count Basie Orchestra; pianists Eubie Blake, Dick Wellstood, and Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines; and guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli. After the NJF moved back to Newport, the NJJS Waterloo festival continued through 1994.

Although Wein was sometimes criticized for making the NJF too commercial or having acts that veered too far from pure jazz, he is recognized for creating the jazz festival genre as we know it today. And, he received countless honors: National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master; Legion d’Honneur and the Commandeur de L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres from the Government of France; member of the Board of Directors Advisory Committee of the Jazz Foundation of America; lifetime Honorary Trustee of Carnegie Hall; and Trustees Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Recording Academy. At the latter event, in 2015, rapper and actor LL Cool J introduced him, saying, “More than anyone, George set the stage for what great festivals today look like.”

In addition to his career as a jazz entrepreneur, Wein continued to play the piano as the leader of a group

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY called the Newport All-Stars, whose personnel was continually changing.

In 1967, for example, the members were tenor saxophonist Bud Freeman, clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, trumpeter Ruby Braff, bassist Jack Lesberg, and drummer Don Lamond. At the NJPAC 2013 event, he was joined by saxophonist/flutist Lew Tabackin, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, trumpeter Bria Skonberg, bassist Jay Leonhart, and drummer Clarence Penn.

Recalling that night, Tabackin told Jersey Jazz that Wein, “opened up many opportunities for me, too many to note. I vividly remember,

Sentimental Journey Big Band after playing a set at the Nice Festival around 1983 as a member of the Freddie Hubbard All-Stars, I was scheduled to join George and the Newport Festival All-Stars. I never played much in this (traditional) idiom, although I was familiar with some of it. It was a joy, reaffirming my idea of the continuity and inclusiveness of the great jazz tradition.”

Guitarist Howard Alden, who frequently played with the All-Stars, posted a tribute to Wein on Facebook. “George was such a huge part of the jazz world,” he wrote. “It’s hard to imagine a jazz/festival scene

“ GEORGE WAS SUCH A HUGE

Sunday, October 17 • 3:00pm Main Stage or Virtual

PART OF THE JAZZ WORLD.”

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JERSEY JAZZ

featuring Altha Morton, Vocalist

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grunincenter.org

Grunin Center Box Office Hours Monday-Friday 12:00pm-5:00pm 732-255-0500 College Drive P Toms River, NJ

BIG BAND IN THE SKY without him. In my 30-year association with him, I was able to play with people and in places I would have never imagined ... The most fun was seeing how much George enjoyed just being on the road and making music with players he loved.”

On November 20th, as part of the TD James Moody Jazz Festival, NJPAC will present “A Celebration of George Wein Featuring Anat Cohen and the Newport All-Stars”. Joining clarinetist/saxophonist Cohen will be Tabackin, McBride, pianist Kenny Barron, trumpeter Randy Brecker, drummer Lewis Nash, bassist Peter Washington, and the vocal group, Duchess. After playing with the Newport All-Stars at the 2014 Festival, Cohen told the Associated Press: “People know George as a producer, thinker, and entrepreneur. And then, there’s the little boy that plays piano. When the music

feels good, and he’s really swinging on the piano—there’s such a look of joy on his face at the end of a solo. It feels good for everybody.”

NJPAC’s Schreiber was a protégé of Wein’s, having worked for him for about 10 years. “There’s not a day goes by,” he said at the 2013 event, “that I don’t think about George Wein.”

Wein was queried at that occasion about the future of jazz, and he tried to put it into its proper perspective.

“If you ask 100 people about jazz,” he said, “three of them will say it appeals to them.” That’s okay, he added, pointing out that there were about 300 million people in the United States. So, having an audience of 3 per cent, or nine million, he added, is not so bad.

Wein’s wife, Joyce, passed away in 2005; there were no immediate survivors.

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Big Band in the Sky continues on page 46

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JAZZ AT WILLIAM PATERSON An All-Star Quintet Will Pay Tribute to Art Farmer

“A Gentle, Highly Melodic Player Whose Solos Suggest Sunlight on Water”

BY NOAL COHE N

W

hitney Balliett, jazz critic of the New Yorker Magazine, once described trumpeter-flugelhornist Art Farmer’s approach as follows: “He is a gentle, highly melodic player whose solos suggest sunlight on water: the blue light from the sky is the original melody, the reflected light his improvisation.” There is no question that throughout his 50-year career, Farmer’s playing exhibited lyricism and elegance, but the emotional component of his work must not be overlooked.

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Even though delivered without bombast, his beautifully constructed solos were fully capable of captivating an audience, especially on ballads.

Farmer emerged in the early 1950s along with many other future trumpet stars including Clifford Brown, Chet Baker, Kenny Dorham, Clark Terry, and a resurgent Miles Davis. They would set the standard for the new modern jazz genre that became known as hard bop and would leave a legacy of highly regarded and influential recordings.

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“ IF YOU FIND YOU’RE THE

SMARTEST CAT IN THE ROOM, YOU’RE IN THE WRONG ROOM.” Twin brothers Art (1928-1999) and Addison Farmer (1928-1963) were born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but raised mainly in Phoenix, to which city the family relocated in 1932.

Tragically, Addison, a talented double bassist, died from a brain aneurysm at the age of only 34. The twins were very close, often playing and recording together, and Addison’s sudden passing was difficult for Art to recon-

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cile, especially coming at a time when the careers of both were ascendant.

It was in Phoenix that the twins got their first musical training and exposure to jazz and eventually formed their own band. Following their junior year in high school, they took a summer vacation to Los Angeles where they encountered the vibrant Central Avenue scene, an experience so inspiring that they asked their mother

if they could stay there for their senior year. Surprisingly, she said yes, as long as they attended school. So in 1945 the twins began their final year of high school at Thomas Jefferson High where teacher Samuel Rodney Browne had established a highly regarded music program that trained not only the Farmers but many other young artists including Dexter Gordon, Chico Hamilton and

Sonny Criss, to name just a few.

The brothers then went separate ways with Art joining the band of rhythm & blues drummer Johnny Otis before spending parts of 1946 and 1947 in New York City where it became apparent that he needed to work on his technique. He returned to Los Angeles to woodshed, made his first recording with Jay McShann and became a member of the Roy Porter big band, a legendary ensemble notable for providing the groundbreaking saxophonist/flutist Eric Dolphy his earliest recording opportunities.

Having established himself as part of the Central Avenue jazz milieu, Art Farmer got his first widespread exposure through a recording session with saxophonist Wardell Gray in 1952, for Prestige Records. Farmer’s up-tempo blues, “Farmer’s Market,” attracted considerable attention, especially after singer Annie Ross released a

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statesman, Farmer would utilize the talents of many up and coming musicians including saxophonist Ron Blake, bassist Kenny Davis and pianists Fred Hersch, Geoffrey Keezer, Ted Rosenthal, Michael Weiss and James Williams. One of his guiding principles as leader of a jazz ensemble was: “Surround yourself with talent.

If you find you’re the smartest cat in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”

Blake, Davis, and Keezer will be performing, along with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and guitarist Yoron Israel, at an Art Farmer Tribute Concert on October 24 at William Paterson University.

Constantly searching for an “ideal sound,” Farmer switched from trumpet to flugelhorn in the 1960s and then to the flumpet (a trumpet/flugelhorn hybrid designed by trumpet manufacturer David Monette) in the 1990s.

In 1968, Farmer relocated to Vienna, Austria, after receiving an offer of

Jeremy Pelt

steady employment with the Austrian Radio Orchestra (ORF). He immediately began to perform and record with Europe’s best, notably pianist Fritz Pauer, saxophonist Harry Sokal, and trombonist Erich Kleinschuster.

He recorded nearly 100 albums as leader, many of which are considered classics. In his last decade, he received several awards recognizing his importance as a major con-

tributor to the jazz communities of both Europe and the USA. Among these were the prestigious Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class in 1998 and the NEA Jazz Masters designation in 1999.

Farmer died in New York City on October 4, 1999, after suffering a heart attack.

In 2019, jazz patron and producer Lynne Mueller of Metuchen, NJ,

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PHOTO BY KASI A IDZKOWSKA

vocalese version of the tune a few months later with the solos of Gray and Farmer reproduced with lyrics.

Throughout his career, Farmer was adept at identifying collaborators who would provide original material as well as complement his own skill set and musical preferences. Early on, these included Gigi Gryce and Quincy Jones, both of whom he met while in the Lionel Hampton band and who provided compositions and arrangements for his first recording session as leader in July of 1953 (Work of Art, Prestige PRLP 162).

Others with whom he found common musical ground include Gerry Mulligan (“New” Gerry Mulligan Quartet), Benny Golson, (Jazztet), guitarist Jim Hall (Art Farmer Quartet), and the under-appreciated saxophonist Clifford Jordan who was arguably, the perfect front line partner for Farmer.

After rising to the status of elder

JAZZ AT WILLIAM PATERSON Farmer’s companion and manager during the last years of his life, donated a collection of his recordings, sheet music and other materials to the Living Jazz Archives at William Paterson.

Thus, Farmer joins trumpeters Thad Jones and Clark Terry, saxophonist Michael Brecker, pianists Harold Mabern, James Williams, and Mulgrew Miller as major artists memorialized in this growing, state of the art archive managed by Dr. David Demsey.

In addition, an Art Farmer Jazz Master Scholarship is awarded annually to an exceptional student in the William Paterson Jazz Studies program.

This tribute concert, delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, will feature an all-star quintet comprised of Jeremy Pelt on trumpet and Yoron Israel on drums, in addition to Keezer on piano, Davis on bass, and Blake on saxophones. All except Pelt performed in and recorded with Farmer’s

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ensembles. Song selections will be drawn from the Living Jazz Archives Art Farmer Collection. In addition to being established performing artists, Pelt and Keezer are adjunct Jazz Studies faculty members at William Paterson. Blake teaches jazz saxophone at the Juilliard School, Davis is a lecturer at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, and Israel is chair of the Percussion Department at Berklee College of Music.

Here are some thoughts about Art Farmer taken from recent interviews with the members of that quintet: RON BLAKE: “[It] really impressed

me that he continued to work on getting better. Whenever I had the chance to meet him in his apartment or the few times that we went out on the road together, closer to the end, in those last couple of years, he was always practicing. You went by his room or you

went by his place, the horn was out.

And that impressed me a lot. So I think just having that sort of passion at his age, just wanting to be better, was very inspiring to me. [The] things that he seemed to find really important in music just in terms of different tempos and interpreting ballads and even being really specific about how to interpret changes at times, it just made me pay more attention to details to allow what was there to generate music and not to try to make everything an exercise in harmonic exploration.”

KENNY DAVIS: “I played in his band

Kenny Davis

for about 10 years. Art was the ultimate professional. [I was] a young guy and he taught me to make sure I dressed right for the gig, that I [was] on time. And he’s a great musician.

One thing about Art Farmer, he didn’t just play bebop. He played notes, extensions of the chord. Art was a

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JAZZ AT WILLIAM PATERSON mentor. He always told me, don’t ever come to a rehearsal or a gig unprepared! That stayed with me. Don’t ever come to a rehearsal unprepared.”

YORON ISRAEL: “Musically, I miss

him so much because the sound that he got on the trumpet, no one else has that sound. [The instrument he played] wasn’t quite a trumpet.

It was something called a flumpet.

But I would say it wasn’t Kenny Davis so much the instrument, although the instru-

Yoron Israel

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ment had something to do with it.

But his tone, I think it speaks of the person he was. His sound was just so unique, somewhat understated but so beautiful. He brought an almost string quality to the trumpet. I think about cello when I hear Art. I hear cello, I hear viola. I hear especially those warmer string instruments when I hear his trumpet sound.”

GEOFFREY KEEZER: “It was inter-

esting for me going almost directly from Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers to Art Farmer’s band which, even though the basic vocabulary of the music was the same, hard bop or post bop, 1950s-1960s-type stuff, the approaches were very different. Art Blakey’s approach was very aggressive, bombastic, hard swinging, in your face, all of those kinds of things.

And Art Farmer’s kind of the opposite. It was much more about the

Geoffrey Keezer

subtleties of the music, more creating moods. It was probably the closest thing to playing with a vocalist.

And so the way that I [accompanied] Art necessarily had to be different, more sensitive kind of accompanying than I did with Art Blakey.”

JEREMY PELT: “I think that a lot of

my evolution [as a player] came after college and moving to New York and really understanding, just through dint of experience, the more musical aspect of playing that didn’t revolve around pyrotechnics; and once that started, that’s when I started to really delve into players that weren’t as brash as a Freddie [Hubbard] or a Lee Morgan. So

that meant players like Blue Mitchell, players like Chet Baker and certainly players like Art Farmer. Art Farmer to me, once I got mature enough to understand where he was coming from, was one of the most important players, certainly, that I still check out to this day and who’s informed a lot of decisions, musically, that I’ve made.”

The Art Farmer Tribute Concert is part of the fall 2021 WPU Jazz Room Series and will take place at 4 p.m. on Sunday, October 24, 2021, in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on the William Paterson University campus in Wayne, NJ. It will be preceded by a “Sittin In’ session at 3 p.m. where the musicians will discuss their experiences working with Art Farmer.

Purchase tickets for the concert at wpunj.edu/wppresents/jazz-roomseries. Proceeds from this event will go toward the Art Farmer archive.

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METUCHEN ARTS COUNCIL partners with NEW JERSEY JAZZ SOCIETY presenting

Jazz Education FRANK BASILE Evolution of the Baritone Saxophone: A Personal Perspective Frank Basile, baritone saxophonist, is per The New Yorker a “prized sideman” who has toured the world and recorded with many of jazz’s finest musicians and ensembles, including The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra and The Dizzy Gillespie All Star Band, among others. Frank, an adjunct faculty member at The New School, has his own ensembles.

Basile shares his perspective on six baritone saxophonists who have contributed to the progress of the baritone saxophone and have exerted their influences on Frank’s own sound, including Harry Carney, Leo Parker, Cecil Payne, Pepper Adams, Ronnie Cuber and Gary Smulyan.

MetuchenArtsCouncil.com

New Jersey Jazz Society NJJS.org

F R EE L I V E S T R EA M EV EN T

Sunday, October 17, 2021 at 3 PM Donations Appreciated

RISING STAR

“He Sent Me Some Music to Transcribe ... I Was Hungry. I Memorized Everything.”

BY SANFORD JOS E P HSON

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S

ean Mason got a late start on piano. He began playing at age 13 after first trying trombone and percussion. As a result, he said, “I didn’t apply to any music schools for college. I just decided to go about 1 1/2 hours from where I lived (in Charlotte, NC) to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.”

UNCG does, however, offer degrees in Music Education and Music Performance along with a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Jazz. While studying there in 2017, Mason learned that Branford Marsalis — who lives in Durham, NC, and teaches at North Carolina Central University — was giving lessons at UNCG to saxophone students. He asked Steve Haines, a UNCG music professor who teaches Jazz Listening and Jazz Pedagogy, if he could get a few minutes with Marsalis at the end to play piano, and Haines told him

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PHOTO BY CARTER WAD E

A Late Starter on Piano, Sean Mason Was Discovered by Branford Marsalis

Marsalis could carve out 15 minutes.

Remembering his encounter with Mason in a January 2020 interview with the Charlotte Observer’s Lawrence Toppman, Marsalis said, “I had 15 saxophone players and Sean. I gave him ‘King Porter Stomp’ to transcribe. I must have given that to 15 students (over the years), and none ever learned it . . . I gave him Edvard Grieg’s ‘Lyric Pieces’, and he came back and played two of those basically from memory. I said, ‘You might want to consider Juilliard. Go to their website, put in your audition tape, and they will call you.’ I told my brother (Wynton, Director of Juilliard

Jazz), ‘Be on the lookout for this kid.”

Recalled Mason: “I played ‘Sunny Side of the Street’,” and he asked for my email. He sent me some music to transcribe – ‘King Porter Stomp’ and a couple of classical pieces. I was hungry. I memorized everything.

That impressed him, we developed a long-term relationship, and he encouraged me to go to Juilliard.”

Haines recognized Mason as “a very special musician. I mean, he just had huge ears. Students would be assigned writing out four and five horn arrangements from Benny Carter and Duke Ellington, and he’d just be leagues ahead.”

“ I LIKE BEING A SIDEMAN,

LEARNING OTHER PEOPLE’S MUSIC.”

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Mason attended Juilliard but left during the pandemic and formed his own trio with bassist Butler Knowles and drummer Malcolm Charles. He also performs frequently as a sideman. “I like being a sideman, learning other people’s music,” he said.

On August 19, he subbed for Emmet Cohen in drummer Herlin Riley’s quintet on the first night Dizzy’s Club reopened after the pandemic.

Through his connection with Marsalis, who wrote the soundtrack for the Netflix movie, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (see Jersey Jazz, February 2021), Mason played piano on the soundtrack. “We finished Ma Rainey during the pandemic,” he said. “It was a pretty long process. We had to make sure we stayed safe. It was difficult. This was music from 100 years ago. The language

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PHOTO BY NATHAN WEST

RISING STAR

was constricted to the 1920s. It was as if bebop never happened. We did all the recording in New Orleans.”

In January 2020, Mason was part of trombonist Mariel Bildsten’s septet that played the music of Count Basie and Duke Ellington at the Morris Museum’s Bickford Theatre. As reported in the March/ April 2020 issue of Jersey Jazz, one of the highlights of that concert was “A showstopping rhythm section-only performance of Ellington’s ‘I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good’, followed by his ‘Dancers in Love’ that displayed Mason’s Tatum-esque style, morphing into a Fats Waller-like stride, to the audience’s delight.” Prior to that concert Mason had performed with Wynton Marsalis’ Young Stars Ensemble and appeared with Marsalis’ quintet in November 2019 at Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem.

Mason’s connection with Bildsten

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Mason, at left, with Mariel Bildsten’s septet at the Bickford Theatre in January 2020.

Rest of the band: Marty Jaffe on bass, Evan Sherman on drums, Bildsten on trombone, Bruce Harris on trumpet, Sarah Hanahan on alto sax, and Ruben Fox on tenor sax.

dates to early 2019 when he was part of her band playing the late night slot at Dizzy’s. That week-long gig resulted in Bildsten’s 2020 Outside In album, Backbone, which, as Bildsten described in last month’s Jersey Jazz, was developed during rehearsals for that engagement and recorded the day after the gig ended. Recalling that during that week, “We really wanted to get comfortable with the music,” Mason

added that the resulting album, “shows how good a bandleader Mariel is.”

Last month, Mason appeared with Bildsten’s septet at Chelsea Table + Stage, a new club on West 26th Street, and he has played at another new club in the Wall Street area called Casa Cipriani. He has also performed as a sideman in bands led by bassist Russell Hall, trombonist Jeffrey Miller, vibraphonist Joel

Ross, and trumpeter Charles Turner.

Mason taught himself to play piano on a Casio keyboard his grandmother gave him as a 13th birthday present. Two years later, he took lessons at the JazzArts Initiative (now JazzArts Charlotte) camps. But the biggest influence on his decision to get serious about piano was Ray Charles, after seeing the movie, Ray. “Despite all the negatives in the movie,” he said, “I was driven by the spirit of the music.” His parents, he recalled, listened to recordings of Charles’ music in addition to other artists such as Luther Vandross and Barry White. “I grew up in the Black church,” he added, “and gospel was ingrained in my head. I want to continue to learn to have an affinity for older music and for the music now. I want to learn and grow from my peers and learn from those ancestors, like Coleman Hawkins.”

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PHOTO BY JAC K G RASSA

RISING STAR

TALKING JAZZ

A Jersey Jazz Interview with Joe Farnsworth

BY SCH A E N FOX

I

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PHOTO BY JOS EPH BERG

n September 2020, drummer Joe Farnsworth released Time to Swing on the Smoke Sessions Records label, featuring trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, pianist Kenny Barron, and bassist Peter Washington as his sidemen. “If you were to buy only one record this year to fulfill your need for in-the-pocket swinging jazz with a nod toward tradition,” wrote JazzTimes’ Ken Micallef, “drummer Joe Farnsworth’s Time to Swing is the one.” The album spent 26 weeks on the Jazz Week charts, peaking at Number 5 on November 9, 2020. This October 1, Farnworth is following up with the release of a new Smoke Sessions album, City of Sounds, also featuring Barron and Washington. It was recorded live in February in an empty Smoke Jazz & Supper Club in upper Manhattan.

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TALKING JAZZ When did you realize that your musical family was not like every other family?

JF Well, fairly young because there were hardly any musical families in South Hadley, Massachusetts. And at my friends’ houses, no one had thousands upon thousands of records like we did. I lived with my brother, David, the oldest. He had a beautiful set of drums and cymbals. Every time he went to school, before I went to school, he’d say ‘Don’t touch my drums.’ I’d watch him walk down the street, until JJ

I couldn’t see him anymore. I knew it was okay to jump on the drums.

That was the Count Basie, Sonny Payne, Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson, Duke Ellington—a big band room. The room next to us was my brother, James. His room was Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, and John Coltrane. And in the other room was my brother, John. His was the JJ Johnson, Slide Hampton, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane room. I used to go into different rooms and listen to different things. It was my own lit-

tle 52nd Street club circuit. No one else was like that in South Hadley.

When you were growing up, your parents were employed in Indonesia. Was your time at the International School in Jakarta important for your career?

JF Well, I went there my eighth grade and freshman years. I hated going, but once I got there, I loved it. I saw the world; I learned the love of traveling and meeting new people. What else was great about it was that Japan JJ

“ HAROLD MABERN WAS THE SOURCE OF

INFORMATION UNMATCHED AT WILLIAM PATERSON. WHAT HE SAID, YOU BELIEVED 100 PER CENT.” NJJS.ORG

had records that you couldn’t get in America. We made a point of stopping in Japan, so I could go to the record stores. I came home with suitcases full of records. I got Miles Davis Live in Tokyo, and I heard Tony Williams for the first time. I started listening to all his stuff. I did a little research, and I learned that his teacher was Alan Dawson who was in Boston, so I started taking lessons with Alan Dawson.

Your college years were in New Jersey at William Paterson University. Who were some of the other students that we might know?

JF: Well, Bill Stewart was right next door to me in the practice room, and he practiced all day long. He was stunning back then. Doug Weiss, the bass player, Eric Alexander, Peter Bernstein, Jesse Davis and Coleman Mellett. It was eye-opening because these guys were really playing.

JJ

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TALKING JAZZ You spent many years with Harold Mabern. That started at William Paterson.

Please tell us about that.

JF Harold Mabern was the source of information unmatched at William Paterson. What he said, you believed 100 per cent. What he did, you believed 100 per cent. The way he played, you never heard anything like it. You knew that was the guy to follow and to listen to.

I saw him play with Billy Higgins and George Coleman. He used to do this rhythm on the piano like Phineas Newborn. It was just triplets, and when he would do it, Billy Higgins was doing the drums, and they would do it for a chorus, and the place would go crazy.

I saw Billy do it, so I thought, “I’m going to do the same thing and it’s going to excite him.” Right when I did it, he stopped me. He said, “Don’t play with me, play for me.” That was a massive lesson for me. He was hard-core, “I just

want you to swing hard, and let George Coleman do his stuff, and let me do my stuff. You just play for us, not with us.”

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JJ

When did you start playing with him professionally?

JF Well, I hired him first for my senior recital. I had Harold Mabern on one part and Brad Mehldau on the other. Then I had a week at the Village Gate with Junior Cook, Tyler Mitchell and Harold Mabern.

I had been listening to this record Blue Mitchell’s Bring It Home to Me, one of my favorite records. So, I was practicing to that record preparing for this gig. I got to the gig, and we opened up with “Jeannine,” and I sounded terrible. That was the last time I practiced to a record, because I was just playing along with Billy Higgins. I wasn’t interacting with Harold and Junior; I was reacting to Billy. That was the first time we played together outside of school.

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What was it like being with Harold off the stage?

JF He loved to talk about the scene, Monk, Horace Silver; Bobby Timmons, Mulgrew Miller, Ahmad Jamal, Frank Strozier, Joe Williams. He just loved music and being on the road.

Now he was with Eric Alexander and myself, so he was the older parental figure. Let’s say there was a 5 o’clock lobby call to go to the gig. He was there

at 3:30 dressed. Me and Eric were coming in from running at 4:30. He’d be so mad, look at his watch, and say, ‘Your late.’ I said, ‘But we don’t have to go until 5.” That was the old school way, and he was like that to the bitter end. The last gig we did overseas was in Paris. We were right next to the hotel, and the gig started at 9, but he was in the lobby at 6.

He was old school, so when you traveled with a band, that was your family. We ate together. If we went out to do a little sightseeing, we did it together. You did everything together. You didn’t just walk out of the hotel for four hours, and he didn’t know where you were. Now, mind you, he didn’t go on the road with just anybody. He had to really like you to go on the road. He was very loyal. Maybe later in his life he’d go home to get some sleep, but rarely. In hotels he was always getting

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played in Russia, he played the black national anthem “Lift Every Voice.”

He didn’t say anything, but he did play it at a fancy affair at the U.S. embassy. He did his talking that way.

You also studied with Art Taylor while you were at William Paterson.

JF I sure did. I was coming from Alan Dawson, so I expected a lesson to be in a certain way, and it wasn’t the same. Every weekend, I stayed at my brother John’s house at 106th and Amsterdam. There used to be a musicians’ union phone book with every musician that was in the union and their phone numbers. I’d just go down that phone book and call people to see who I could talk to. I saw Art Taylor and I was, “Holy Cow! ‘Giant Steps!’” I called, he picked up, and I was right at his house for a lesson. It was the greatest thing I JJ

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PHOTO BY MITC HELL SEI DEL

Farnsworth with bassist John Webber at the 2018 Xerox Rochester, NY, International Jazz Festival.

mad at me, because I didn’t want to sleep in the room next to him. You could hear him rustling around like at 4 in the morning, because he was ready to roll. He’d sleep for like three hours. You could just feel his energy.

The way he played was the way he was living - intense, very intense.

His favorite place in the world was Japan. Obviously, he was so different looking from the Japanese, but there was no racism.

They treated him like a king. They loved to shake his hand or put their hands against his or ask for autographs. He loved it there.

He never talked about the racism he felt growing up. It was never talked about by any of those guys: Cecil Payne, Cedar Walton or George Coleman. We went down to Memphis, and I tried to talk to him about Martin Luther King, but he was more focused on music. Now when he

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“ NO ONE HAD A BETTER BEAT THAN

BOB CRANSHAW. THAT WAS HIS WHOLE THING. HE LOVED TO SWING RIGHT IN THAT ZONE.” ever did in my life, because he was the greatest drummer I ever saw.

When I’d go see him play, after the set was over, he’d say, “Come on follow me into the back room,” and there would be Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean or Elvin Jones. I wasn’t part of the conversation, because I didn’t dare speak, but I was there, because I took lessons with him. That guy was the greatest role model for me. I loved everything about him: the way he looked, spoke, played, the way he presented himself, and the way he loved history.

He told me so many things I would

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have never known. I’d go out to lunch with him, and he’d talk about life or just JC Heard, and he loved Philly Joe Jones and Kenny Clarke. I never would have gotten any of that without picking up that phone and calling him.

How did you get to know Jimmy Lovelace?

JF I met him through Ari Roland, the bass player. He grew up in New York City, so he already knew the guys, and he was talking about Jimmy Lovelace, and I had no idea. So, we went over to the University of the Streets, and had a JJ

jam session. I was, “Damn, who is this drummer? He played so smooth and so effortlessly; the sound was huge.

Jimmy liked little clubs or restaurants, and he called himself, “The Underground Drummer.” I asked why he liked to play in such places, and he said, “Because it swings harder underground.” A lot of my friends were playing with him. When we moved to the East Village, it was me, Michael Zisman, Mike Mullins, the alto player, and my brother James.

Now James was on the road for a long time with Ray Charles and wanted

to sublet his room. Lovelace was living in a dump right above CBGB, the rock club. So, we got him to move in with us and he stayed for eight years.

Finally, please say a little about Bob Cranshaw.

JF No one had a better beat than Bob Cranshaw. That was his whole thing. He loved to swing right in that zone. His catch phrase was, “All Right!” That sums up what he was like. Everything was just all right.

His whole thing was providing the feeling. That is why we called him “Big Beat Bob.” He didn’t care about taking solos, he just wanted to swing.

When he got sick, he would still come up to the club,Smoke, to sit in with us. He would play one set, and it felt like he turned that small club into Madison Square Garden. You knew he was sick, but he was so happy to play. He was smiling all the time.

JJ

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BASS AND BEYOND Leon Lee Dorsey’s Latest Album: Ballads, Latin Jazz, Hard Bop, and Swing

“From Ron Carter and Richard Davis, I Learned A Lot About How to Be a Professional”

BY JAY SW E E T

I

t has often been said that a man is judged by the company he keeps. If the saying is accurate, bassist, composer, and educator Leon Lee Dorsey must be regarded favorably. A man of great curiosity and intellect, Dorsey’s training is impressive and extensive.

He completed a Doctorate in Classical Double Bass at the Grad Center of City University in New York under the guidance of bass legend Ron Carter and holds Master’s degrees from The Manhattan School of Music and the Univer-

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sity of Wisconsin and two Bachelor of Music degrees from Oberlin College.

After making his solo debut at Lincoln Center in 1999, Dorsey has never looked back and has since become one of New York’s first call bassists. He has performed with an endless list of jazz legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Lionel Hampton, Wynton Marsalis, Freddie Hubbard, John Lewis, George Benson, Jon Hendricks, Stanley Turrentine, Benny Carter, and Kenny Clarke. In addition to Dors-

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BASS AND BEYOND ey’s work as an accompanist, he also leads his own trios and released four trio albums over the last two years (MonkTime (CD Baby), Wolff Clark Dorsey Play Sgt. Peppers (Jazz Avenue 1), Thank You, Mr. Mabern (Jazz Avenue 1), and Freedom Jazz Dance, (Jazz Avenue 1). Each release includes his close friend and musical companion, drummer Mike Clark (Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter), along with a third musician whose talents are explicitly chosen to match an album concept and specific musical vision.

Dorsey’s most recent effort, Freedom Jazz Dance, showcases the bassist’s love for jazz standards and original compositions. With the inclusion of Puerto Rican-born pianist Manuel Valera, the album’s material showcases a program that includes ballads, Latin jazz, hard bop, and swing. The various time feels and sub-genre contexts on Freedom Jazz

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Dance create a listening experience that is never stale or formulaic.

In addition to his extensive work as a bassist and composer, Dorsey is also a passionate educator who currently works as a professor at the Berklee College of Music where he teaches courses in composition, arranging, harmony, music history, and leads several ensembles. He is also a

talented producer and engineer who owns and operates a recording studio.

Dorsey is originally from Pittsburgh, the home town for several legendary jazz musicians such as Roy Eldridge, Ahmad Jamal, Art Blakey, Earl Hines, and Ray Brown. He was eager to discuss Pittsburgh’s connection to jazz.

“What’s amazing about Pittsburgh is the degrees of generations it covers, including Earl ‘Fatha’ Hines, Roy Eldridge, down to Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts. So, it’s not like you can say Pittsburgh was only great in the 1940s. Think of guys who came later, like Billy Eckstine, George Benson, Stanley Turrentine, and Art Blakey. For me, the thing that is so amazing is that these figures are not only some of the greats, but they are also innovators. For example, Roy Eldridge bridged the gap between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie as a trumpet soloist. Kenny Clarke and

Art Blakey are both from Pittsburgh and were innovative in the formation of bebop and post-bop. So, when you look at it, you have musicians from Pittsburgh who were innovative to their generation and chosen style.”

Dorsey first met Ron Carter when he was a student at Oberlin, and Carter was playing at the University of Pittsburgh Jazz Seminar. “I was like 18 or 19 years old. Obviously, everyone knew who he was. So, there I got to hang with him briefly. Then when I studied with Richard Davis while doing my Masters at the University of Wisconsin. Davis said, ‘When you get to New York, go and look up Ron Carter.’

“When I moved to New York, I was asked to sub for Davis in the New York Bass Choir, which was quite an honor. The band included Carter, Milt Hinton, Lisle Atkinson, and Michael Fleming. So, I met Ron there, and I said, ‘I would like to study with you.’ I

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BASS AND BEYOND also subbed for him at the Vanguard and Knickerbockers. We still keep in touch, and he only lives 10 blocks away.

In terms of giving, knowledge, support, and musical wisdom, I can say that it has been one of the greatest relationships of my life. I can call him and ask him about anything; my knowing him has been amazing on so many levels.

“From Ron Carter and Richard Davis, I learned a lot about how to be a professional. Between the two of them, they have been on like 5,000 albums and commercial jingles. Those are the two people I wanted to be like.

They taught me that, in music, you are always on display. When you show up to a rehearsal, not only is your word your bond, but you must come in prepared. If you go into rehearsal complaining, you have to realize that you are on observation constantly.”

Dorsey’s background in classical music helped him as a jazz musi-

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“ I ALSO LIKE TO SHOWCASE MY PITTSBURGH

ROOTS. I AM SIGNIFICANTLY INFLUENCED

BY BOBBY TIMMONS AND HORACE SILVER.” cian. “No matter what style you play, jazz or classical,” Dorsey said, “you have to understand the instrument -- where your hands go, the relationship of chromatic pitches, arpeggios, and all the other elements that go with the music. In that regard, classical studies give you a more formalized process. Even though there are several different books on jazz bass playing, there is no de facto jazz book the way the Simandl Bass Method book is to classical studies. Studying classical music helps you understand the fundamental elements required

to develop mastery of the bass.”

At press time, Freedom Dance had been on the JazzWeek charts for six weeks. It’s currently Number 7, having peaked at Number 5. Dorsey’s goal with the album was for it to be “enjoyable and uncomplicated. I didn’t get too much into over arranging. When I play a melody on ‘How Insensitive’, I try to make the melody as vocal-like as possible, almost like how Miles Davis plays or Sarah Vaughan sings.

“One of the things I learned from working with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and Lionel Hamp-

ton,” he continued, ‘is programming. I learned the importance of programming records and live sets. Even with the Jazz Messengers’ classic lineup of Freddie Hubbard, Curtis Fuller, Wayne Shorter, everything was succinct. Programming has a lot to do with the experience of the listener. I am very sensitive to programming a set when it comes to records.

Dorsey’s album before Freedom Dance was Thank You, Mr. Mabern with the late Harold Mabern. For Freedom Dance, he selected Valera.

“I had talked to pianist Manuel Vel-

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BASS AND BEYOND

The Mark Clemente Chord MelodiesTM for Guitar

era for years,” he explained, “and the making of the record was actually the first time we played together. I knew he would love Mike Clark; that’s a no-brainer, but I was still trying to anticipate chemistry by the tunes I selected. I talk to Mike Clark almost every day, and I mentioned the Miroslav Vitous record called Mountains in the Clouds. The opening track on that record is ‘Freedom Jazz Dance’, and I told him that I had wanted to record that song, and Mike Clark, and his experience playing on Herbie Hancock’s album, Actual Proof, is the perfect guy to bring that kind of energy to that song. For the piece, I wanted that ‘open’ sound. The groove is not really funky; it’s not really fusion.

It’s a little bit of a lot of things, and there is a lot of energy. I thought the song would be a great vehicle for the trio with Manuel’s playing in mind.

“After recording so many stan-

dards on my past records, I wanted to bring some originals in finally. I knew Manuel could play in the style of Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, and he has the Latin thing going for him.

As for his approach to original compositions, “I am probably most influenced by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, and Charles Mingus. I also think my R&B and classical influences still filter into my music. I have also experimented with music in different meters like 7/4, and 9/4.

When composing, I am looking for harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic energy. With a ballad, I may look more for harmonic and melodic richness.

I also like to showcase my Pittsburgh roots. I am significantly influenced by Bobby Timmons and Horace Silver. I also have an interest in pieces like ‘Chameleon’, which is essentially two chords. I show the piece to my

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Playable, performance-ready arrangements for solo jazz guitar.

Each song is written in notation, tablature, and with chord diagrams. Choose from nearly 50 standards, which are included in two songbooks and available individually.

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BASS AND BEYOND

Dorsey with Harold Mabern, left, and George Coleman

students and explain just how hard it is to write songs like ‘Chameleon’, especially when you look at all the more harmonically sophisticated things Herbie Hancock has done in the past. You can have simplicity and still be successful compositionally.”

And, what about the future of jazz? “Jazz music is now incredibly universal, and education has fostered a lot of interest in jazz,” he said. “In addition, we now have great tech-

nology and access to materials. I also think that jazz is now global. I have taught ensembles where the pianist was from Israel, the bass player was from Italy, the drummer was from Russia, and the trumpet player was from Germany. I believe that the global element is part of the future of jazz. I think the international aspect, the access to education and technology, will be the cornerstone element when discussing the future of jazz.”

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DAN’S DEN

BY DA N MORG ENST ERN

I

t’s hard to believe, at least for someone who was blessed to have known him off stage, that it is now 50 years since Louis Armstrong was taken from us. He’d had his ups and downs for some time so it wasn’t a total shock, yet I’ll never forget that it was when driving back from the Newport Jazz Festival, where the year before he had been so warmly and wonderfully honored on his 70th birthday (and yes, to me July 4, 1900 is the

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correct date, no matter what claims to the contrary) that we heard on the radio that Pops was gone. (The “we” were all friends, Ira Gitler and David Himmelstein now gone; Don Schlitten and Mary Jo, Ira’s wife and the only driver among us, happily still alive.)

So now half a century has passed, but Satch is still with us—there cannot be the slightest doubt that, every hour of every day, somewhere in the world that horn and voice are bringing joy to someone’s ears and heart, and that will go on forever, if humanity conquers climate change.

The man who made that Newport salute possible, having created not just that festival, but the Jazz Festival as a genre, George Wein, has now left us, at 95. You can (and should) read all about George, whom I first met in 1953, in his fine autobiography (with Nate Chinen), Myself Among Others. At that first encounter George was the piano playing owner of a unique pair of jazz

“Half a century has passed, but Satch is still with us.”

clubs in Boston, Storyville on the upper deck and Mahogany Hall one flight down. The upper was for name attractions, established and new (I first heard Brubeck and Desmond there and was able, with George’s aid and blessings, to bring first the Stan Getz Quintet and then, as I’ll never forget, Art Tatum, alone, not in his trio format, to Brandeis University where I was a student.

Downstairs was the home of a house band, with guests, led by George

from the piano, with subs if needed upstairs (as when he played for Lester Young, who, in his presidential manner, requested an audition, upon which he gave his seal of approval). Sidney Bechet, another giant, was frequently there (records exist), joining one of his favorite horn men, the incomparable Vic Dickenson. On the drums, most often, was Buzzy Drootin, an unsung (except by Charlie Parker, who named “Buzzy” for him) hero, whose broth-

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DAN’S DEN er, clarinetist Al, was often on hand.

It was there that I first heard Johnny Windhurst, alas so short lived, and wonderful. And, Ruby Braff, when not contentious, was also on the scene.

This setting, as astute readers may have guessed, led to George’s Newport All Stars, in their many but always excellent incarnations (my favorite: Ruby, Vic and Pee Wee Russell, a front line made in heaven). George always held his own (he was a piano prodigy and also sang—which he loved to do lifelong—his LP Wein, Women and Song is proof ). But critics, that odd breed, far too often put George down as the weak link in the band. (In old age George developed hearing problems and told me he would no longer play as he could not properly hear himself; fortunately, a cure was found, and he was able to do his annual Newport gig again. But not, alas, this year—he did not feel strong enough to make the trip. George and his wife Joyce (I think they first met

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“ PHIL SCHAAP LEFT US MUCH TOO SOON ... when she interviewed him for a Black publication) were avid collectors of paintings by Black artists; what by then amounted to a treasure trove was donated to Boston University, George’s alma mater, after Joyce’s death. This was not mentioned in the obits I’ve seen; a few of his favorites were on the walls in his apartment. Also unmentioned went Charles Bourgeois, George’s right hand in the growth and development of Newport, who’d been a Boston talent promoter on his own and was a very special person. Good people worked with (some would say for, I say with) George, whose name is writ large in the history of jazz.

Phil Schaap left us much too soon and alas, did not go gently into the good

WE FIRST MET WHEN HE WAS ABOUT 14.” night. We first met when he was about 14. His father, Walter (Wally to friends) introduced us. Walter translated the first intelligent article about jazz, the Swiss conductor Ernest Ansermet’s appreciation of a concert by the Black orchestra with which Sidney Bechet came to Europe. Phil was a whiz kid already and, of course, grew into a man with encyclopedic jazz knowledge. He shared this knowledge generously and laced it with his love for the music and its makers. His decades of (unpaid) labor in the cause of jazz at WKCR, the Columbia University radio station, bred generations of jazz enthusiasts and workers in the vineyards of the music.

Phil taught listeners, but also was a teacher in the flesh, enthusiastic but

demanding—he had no patience with students who lacked basic knowledge of history—and not just of jazz. Radio and live teaching was by no means all Phil did for the music. For a number of years he booked the West End Cafe, a Columbia neighborhood bar, employing mainly veteran musicians who more than deserved exposure (and income).

He bred generations of acolytes who continued and are continuing in his ear steps at KCR, and taught us more about Charlie Parker and his other heroes than seemed possible. With all this also went a great sense of humor and lack of vanity and pretentiousness. It was good news that Phil was named a NEA Jazz Master, but alas a bit too late for him to enjoy the fruits of the honor.

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BOOK REVIEW Texas Jazz Singer: Louise Tobin in the Golden Age of Swing and Beyond

By Kevin Edward Mooney

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY PRESS, URBANA, COLLEGE STATION,240 PAGES 2021

BY JOE L A N G

D

evoted enthusiasts of the big band era are likely familiar with the name of Louise Tobin. She was the first wife of trumpet/big band leader legend Harry James and a vocalist for Benny Goodman for about six months in 1939. There was a lot more to her professional and personal life that should be of significance to those interested in jazz and swing era music. In Texas Jazz Singer, Kevin Mooney has done a wonderful job

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of researching Tobin’s life and the musical and social environments in which she developed and performed.

From her formative years in Aubrey, Texas, she was interested in singing, By her teenage years, she was performing professionally. While on tour with Art Hicks at the age of 15, she fell in love with and married one of his trumpet players, Harry James, having to lie about her age to tie the knot.

James proved to be a less than

perfect match, leaving Tobin in Chicago while he was constantly touring with Ben Pollack. He eventually joined Benny Goodman’s band.

During his Goodman period, Tobin settled in New York, doing occasional freelance gigs, but never was involved in the Goodman scene.

When James started his own band, Tobin’s gigging was their source of income. She was the person who alerted James to Frank Sinatra whom she had heard on the radio. After a short period, Goodman hired Tobin and considered her the best vocalist he ever had.

Among the tunes she performed with Goodman was “Louise,” with special lyrics written by Johnny Mercer. Her stay with Goodman was short-lived when she left after six months at the urging of James. While still working occasionally, she settled into being Mrs. James, giving birth to two sons, Harry in 1941, and Tim in 1942; but, by 1943, James, a notorious womaniz-

er, divorced her to marry Betty Grable.

During the rest of the 1940s, Tobin worked sporadically, spent most of the 1950s devoted to raising her sons, and finally resumed her singing career in the early 1960s, most notably at the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival where she elicited enthusiastic reviews. It was at Newport where she met clarinetist Peanuts Hucko. Over the next few years, they performed together more frequently, resulting in a 1967 marriage that lasted until his death in 2003.

Tobin, currently 102 years old, resides in Denton, Texas, where she and Hucko took up residence in the 1990s.

Her cooperation and input greatly enhanced the information that enabled Mooney to write this highly readable biography. Mooney was also able to access the Tobin-Hucko Jazz Collection at Texas A&M University-Commerce where the extensive collection of arrangements, programs, press clippings and other memorabilia from their careers is housed.

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OTHER VIEWS

BY JOE L A N G

I

n 1935, the Count Basie Orchestra was formed in Kansas City. It was led by Basie until his death in 1984.

Since then, it has continued under the leadership of several band alumni, and the current leader is trumpeter Scotty Barnhart. From the mid-1950s to the early 1960s, its home base was the legendary New York City jazz club, Birdland. The original club closed in 1964. In recent years, the band has had an annual engagement at the current Birdland on West 44th Street. Its last pre-pandemic Birdland gig took place In January, 2020, and Live at Birdland (Candid – 30072) documents selected performances from January 15-18.

The 32 selections on this superb twodisc set capture the essence of what is still the most swinging big band on the scene. Most of the selections are from the days when Basie led the band and include classics such as “The Kid from Red Bank,” “Basie,” “One O’Clock

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Jump,” “April in Paris,” “Moten Swing,” “Blues in Hoss Flat,” “Shiny Stockings,” and “Whirly Bird.” Basie always had fine vocalists like Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes and Joe Williams in the band, and Carmen Bradford and Jamie Davis nicely fill the vocal chairs on this band. A special treat is having one of the best of the Basie drummers, Butch Miles, sit in for a couple of tunes. candidrecords.com Temple University is located in Philadelphia which is also the hometown of many jazz greats. Without You, No Me (BCM+D Records) by Terrell Stafford and The Temple University Jazz Band honors the legacy of one of those legends, saxophonist/composer/arranger Jimmy Heath (“Without You, No Me” and “The Voice of the Saxophone”). Nods are also given to two other Philly artists, saxophonist Bootsie Barnes (“Bootsie”) and

organist Shirley Scott (“The Blues Ain’t Nothin’ (But Some Pain),” as well as the late Temple basketball coach, John Chaney (“The Wise Old Owl”). Stafford, Temple’s Director of Jazz Studies, leads this aggregation of student musicians who are simply superb. They execute the demanding charts with precision and flair.

Two selections that are particularly ear-catching are “In That Order,”

composed by and featuring organist Joey DeFrancesco -- from the Philadelphia suburb of Springfield -- and an arrangement of “Perdido” by the great Philadelphia tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna. boyer.temple.edu Masters & Baron Meet Blanton & Webster (Capri -74166) finds the Mark Masters Ensemble addressing a dozen selections from the book of the Duke Ellington Orchestra circa 19400-1942 when bassist Jimmy Blanton and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster were two of the featured players. Masters’ band is a 13-piece pianoless ensemble that includes two guest artists, trombonist Art Baron, an Ellington alum, and trumpeter Tim Hagans. The dozen selections include “All Too Soon,” “Duke’s Place,” “I Got It Bad (And That Ain’t Good)’” “A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,” “What Am I Here For,” “Jack the Bear,” “Perdido,” “Passion Flower,”

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OTHER VIEWS “Take the ‘A’ Train” and “Ko-Ko.” The final two tracks are a free jazz “Introduction to In a Mellotone,” featuring Baron and Hagans with drummer Mark Ferber and bassist Bruce Lett, followed by a terrific Masters chart on “In a Mellotone.” Masters has creatively reinterpreted the material, honoring the original versions while putting his own stamp on them. caprirecords.com

Does It,” “Oh, Sister, Ain’t That Hot” and “Palesteena;” three Tobias originals, “Great Scott,” “My Guy Saul” and “Big Orange Stain;” and a tune by tenor sax master Larry McKenna, “You’re It.” Tobias plays trumpet, flugelhorn and Eb alto horn, while Robinson gives us tastes of his instrumental eclecticism by taking up tenor sax, trumpet, flute and tarogato. The rhythm section is wonderfully supportive with Sportiello contributing several sparkling solos. DannyTobias.com

One of New Jersey’s jazz treasures is trumpeter Danny Tobias. On his new release, Silver Linings (Ride Symbol Records - 35), he is joined by Scott Robinson on a variety of instruments, Rossano Sportiello on piano, Joe Plowman on bass, and Kevin Dorn on drums for a tasty 14-song program that includes standards such as “Deep in a Dream,” “Look for the Silver Lining,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” and “Why Did I Choose You;” jazz tunes such as “That D Minor Thing,” “Easy

A new recording from pianist Rossano Sportiello is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. That’s It! (Arbors – 19479) provides a bit over an hour of solo piano magnificence. The 17-track song lineup includes five appealing Sportiello originals sprinkled among a selection that includes “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “Stars Fell on Alabama,” “I Couldn’t Sleep a Wink Last Night,”

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eigo_jps_3.25x9ad_newjerseyjazzsociety_october2021_Layout 1 9/28/2

OTHER VIEWS “How Do You Keep the Music Playing,” “Thou Swell” and “The Sheik of Araby.”

Of course, a Sportiello program is sure to include one classical piece; in this instance it is Bach’s “Prelude No.1 in C Major” which he cleverly pairs with “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”

Sportiello is a truly eclectic player, equally at home playing stride, swing, bebop or classical, all with his special flair. In person, he has a smile that lights up a room. This recording will light up your life. arborsrecords.com In recent years, a wealth of older recordings not previously released have become commercially available. One of the labels at the forefront of bringing out this material is Resonance Records. Its most recent release is In Harmony (Resonance -2060), a twodisc set by trumpeter/flugelhornist Roy Hargrove and pianist Mulgrew Miller taken from a January 15, 2006,

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concert at Merkin Hall in New York City and a November 9, 2007, concert at Lafayette College. The art of duo performance is one that requires special players who can essentially think as one. The pairing of a trumpet with a piano is quite rare, probably the most noted pairing Ruby Braff and Dick Hyman. Hargrove and Miller are perfectly matched for these 13 selections that mix standards,

“What Is This Thing Called Love,” “This Is Always,” “Triste,” “Invitation,” “Never Let Me Go” and “Just in Time,” with jazz tunes, “I Remember Clifford,” “Con Alma,” “Fungii Mama,” “Monk’s Dream,” “Ruby, My Dear,” “Blues for Mr. Hill” and “Ow.” Hargrove and Miller both drew from many influences, but each developed his own singular voice on his respective instrument. Each is a master of improvisation with big ears and the musical sensitivity necessary to perform effectively in a duo format. resonancerecords.org On BASSic Instinct (Burton Avenue Music - 1265), bassist David Finck finds himself in a variety of musical settings from a piano/bass duo to an octet backing a vocalist. The program is equally eclectic mixing standards like “The Best Thing for You (Would Be Me),” “Dearly Be-

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OCTOBER 2021

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oriGiNAl

eigo_ovr_3.25x9ad_newjerseyjazzsociety_october2021_color_Layout 1

OTHER VIEWS loved,” “Tea for Two,” “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” and “I’m Confessin’ (That I Love You)” with three of his originals plus Johnny Mandel’s “Seascape,” Gerry Niewood’s “Joy,” the Brazilian choro, “Tico-Tico no Fubá” and the “Theme from ‘Mannix’.” Among the players on the album is pianist Tedd Firth who is on two of the most memorable tracks, a piano trio take on “The Best Thing for You,” and “I Remember,” a tune by Finck with lyrics by Jack Murphy, sung by Melissa Errico, backed by only Firth and Finck. burtonavenuemusic.com Charlie Parker has been an inspiration to jazz artists since he burst onto the scene in the early 1940s. Creative lyricists such as Jon Hendricks, King Pleasure, Bob Dorough, Sheila Jordan, and Paul Wickliffe have been inspired to add lyrics to Parker’s tunes. In 2017, vocalist Roseanna

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Vitro was moved by the coming 2020 centennial of Parker’s birth to gather several Bird devotees, including vocalists Dorough and Jordan, alto saxophonist Mark Gross, pianist Jason Teborek, bassist Dean Johnson and drummer Bill Goodwin to join her in recording a collection of Parker’s songs with lyrics added. She enlisted Wickliffe as the producer for the project, and the result is a supremely hip album titled Sing a Song of Bird (Skyline – 2101). In 2021, needing to fill out the program, she assembled a crew comprising vocalist Marion Cowings, alto saxophonist Gary Bartz, pianist Alan Broadbent, bassist Johnson and drummer Alvester Garnett to record four additional tracks.

The album has been assembled creatively, with each of the participants given opportunities to stamp Parker’s memory with their special talents. Perhaps the most moving

track is one where Vitro, Jordan and Dorough address the one standard on the program, “These Foolish Things,” a song frequently played

by Parker. singasongofbird.com Several years ago, a couple of record store owners from Albuquerque bought a collection of acetates in New York. Among them, they found a recording that documents the first full session recorded by legendary jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan. It was recorded on June 10, 1960, at New York’s Olmsted Sound Studios with an unknown trio backing her. Jordan, 92, still alert and active, does not recall who accompanied her on the date. Thanks to those who discovered the material and made Capri Records owner Thomas Burns aware of their find, Burns agreed to release the album on Capri. Listening to the material on Comes Love: Lost 1960 Session

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OTHER VIEWS (Capri - 74164) you will quickly discover why Jordan, who began singing in the 1940s, was considered then and has continued to enjoy the reputation among her peers as a singer who is definitely a jazz singer, no matter how you choose to define that genre. As she has always done, her song selection for this session was impeccable. She included such lesser heard gems as “I’m the Girl,” “The Ballad of the Sad Young Men,” “Comes Love,” “Don’t Explain,” “Sleeping Bee” and “Glad to Be Unhappy” along with “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “When the World Was Young,” “I’ll Take Romance,” “These Foolish Things” and “They Can’t Take That Away from Me.” caprirecords.com Vocalist/bassist Nicki Parrott wanders a bit from her normal reliance on the Great American Songbook for her latest release, If You Could Read My

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Mind (Arbors – 19482). Her program for this album is drawn primarily from non-rock pop songs of the 1970s.

She uses tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, pianist Larry Fuller, guitarist David Blenkhorn, and drummer Lewis Nash in various combinations as she assays tunes such as “I Can See Clearly Now,” “Jolene,” “If You Could Read My Mind,” “Vincent,” “Every Breath You Take,” “The First Time

Ever I Saw Your Face,” “You Belong to Me,” “We’ve Only Just Begun,” “This Girl’s in Love With You,” “Do That to Me One More Time,” “Lean on Me” and “The Water Is Wide.” This is a different side of Parrott, somewhat removed from the usual straight-ahead jazz that has been her norm. There is a more contemporary feeling, certainly one suited to the material, but not far enough from her usual approach to jolt the listener. Each of the musicians is a jazz master, so the innate swing that each of them possesses keeps the jazz feeling insistently present. Parrott’s vocalizing is, as always, spot on in terms of pitch, phrasing and lyric interpretation. arborsrecords.com

SANDY SASSO A nice little concert at the Long Branch Public Library on Broadway in Long Branch.

October 16th 2:00-3:00 Celebrating: Italian-Heritage Day

Check njjs.org for additional OTHER VIEWS reviews.

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Did you know that Oct. 16th Is also called Sweetest Day! I just love that….

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY Continued from page 16

Phil Schaap, Jazz Historian and Award-Winning Radio Host WKCR-FM’s Phil Schaap, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, Grammy Award-winning writer of liner notes and encyclopedic source of jazz’s history and heritage, died September 7, 2021, in Manhattan at the age of 70.. Following are tributes, originally appearing on Facebook, from two of the many members of the jazz community impacted by Schaap.

VINCENT PELOTE, Senior Archivist and Digital Preservation Strategist, Institute of Jazz Studies

T Phil Schaap and Vincent Pelote

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he tributes will be pouring in concerning the passing of Phil Schaap, so here’s mine. When we last spoke on the phone, we did our usual mutual admiration society thing but Phil’s knowledge of jazz was awesome, and I let him know just how much I appreciated all that he taught me and how much pleasure his broadcasts brought me over the years.

I also hope I told him how much his friendship meant to me as well.

Whenever he came to the Institute of Jazz Studies, it was like a crazy jazz party with him making all kinds of jazz related references and asking me to whistle a Bix solo (although my brother was better at that).

I will miss him dearly, but I know how much he was suffering and, in a way, I am grateful that he will no longer be in the excruciating pain he described to me during our last conversation. R.I.P. Phil! Love you.

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY George Mraz, European Bass Virtuoso Who Played with American Masters

BY JAY SWE E T

G

From left, Phil Schaap, Paquito D’Rivera, Andy Farber

ANDY FARBER, Jazz Composer, Arranger, and Saxophonist

I

t is beyond difficult to say goodbye to an old friend. I feel like I knew Phil Schaap even before I met him nearly 30 years ago. He left us much too soon, but he has, immeasurably, enriched our lives.

He loved music, and the musicians, and had deep appreciation for the art form of jazz (or whatever you wish to call it). He loved film and baseball and other such disciplines. The

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elements that make life worth living were the subjects of Phil’s study. I will miss our long conversations where we dove into the minutiae of jazz history, recordings, alternate takes, and even trivial matters like, “Who was the better pool shark, Ben Webster or Billy Mitchell?” As if either of us knew. Actually, Phil knew. Phil knew more about everything than anyone.

It goes without saying that he will be missed – missed as a friend, a teacher, a radio host, a writer, a raconteur, and a student of all things hip.

eorge Mraz was a bassist of superb technical ability and part of a generation of incredible European jazz bass virtuosos born in the 1940s. This list includes Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen, Dave Holland, and Miroslav Vitous. Mraz, who died September 16, 2021, in Prague at the age of 77, had complete command of the instrument and could impress audiences with his high register soloing,

bowed melodies, well-crafted walking bass lines, and fantastic tone. He showcased these talents during a time when jazz music was trending more towards electronic instrumentation and eclectic free form experimentation. Expanding on the innovations of the great bassists such as Paul Chambers, Ron Carter, and Scott LaFaro, Mraz was a traditionalist who nearly always performed within the acoustic jazz idiom and always stayed true to the masters of swing and bebop who preceded him.

Born in the Nazi-occupied Czech Republic on September 9, 1944, Mraz began studying classical violin at a young age. When he was around 12, he came upon a broadcast of Louis Armstrong on the radio program Voices of America. By the end of the broadcast, he liked what he heard “better than anything else I heard, so I started looking into jazz.” He soon began to favor the double bass over the violin and evaluated the limited jazz broad-

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BIG BAND IN THE SKY casts he could find with great intensity.

From 1961 to 1966, Mraz attended the esteemed Prague Conservatory.

When not in the classroom, he was performing throughout the city at several popular jazz clubs. After graduating, he relocated to Munich, where he continued to perform and travel throughout Europe with many relocated or touring American jazzmen such as pianists Mal Waldron and Hampton Hawes and trumpeter Benny Bailey, as well as native Czech keyboardist Jan Hammer.

In 1968, Mraz moved to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music, and, while there, he began playing gigs and sessions with Herbie Hancock, Clark Terry, Carmen McRae, and Joe Williams. In 1969 he got the call to join Dizzy Gillespie’s band in New York, and then was asked to join Oscar Peterson’s Trio, a position previously held by Ray Brown and Sam Jones. After a two-year stint with Peterson and three studio albums, Mraz began touring and record-

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ing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. His work with Jones and Lewis lasted for much of the 1970s. Toward the end of the decade, he further cemented his status as one of the most sought-after bassists of his era by performing and recording with legends such as Bill Evans, Stan Getz, and Pepper Adams. One of his longest-standing associations came as a member of pianist Tommy Flanagan’s trio. With that group, he recorded nine albums over 13 years.

After more than three decades of serving as a first-call accompanist, Mraz finally decided to formulate his own ensembles, which often featured pianist Richie Beirach and saxophonist Rich Perry. The result of his efforts resulted in the release of several albums.

In his final years, Mraz led a trio that featured his wife Camilla Mraz on piano and Anthony Pinciotti on drums. The unit was widely focused on presenting original material written by the bassist. Mraz also contin-

ued to work as a freelance bassist; however, a pancreatic condition often sidelined him from working regularly.

Thankfully Mraz was recorded extensively throughout his life.

Among his many recordings, the 1978 album, Plucking and Bowing (GHB Jazz Foundation) and the 2003 ARTA recording, George Mraz and Friends serve as vehicles that showcase his technical mastery of the double bass.

He is survived by his wife, Camilla.

Dottie Dodgion, Pioneering Female Jazz Drummer

D

rummer Dottie Dodgion, who played with Charles Mingus, Benny Goodman, and Zoot Sims, among many others, died on September 24, 2021, at the age 92.

Her autobiography, The Lady Swings: Memoirs of a Jazz Drummer (University of Illinois Press: 2021) was reviewed in the September issue of

Jersey Jazz by Joe Lang, who described her as “a strong woman who overcame a lot of obstacles to become a respected member of the jazz community.”

On Facebook, drummer/bandleader Sherrie Maricle thanked Dodgion ,“for making the music swing so hard and for setting such a high standard. You are admired, respected and will be remembered with love, gratitude, and a lot of smiles.”

Tenor saxophonist Virginia Mayhew, also on Facebook, described Dodgion as “a swingin’ drummer, great singer, and personality plus. She is a legend I was honored to know.”

At deadline, we learned of the deaths of pianist Mike Renzi and organist Dr. Lonnie Smith. Check the News section of njjs.org for a look back at their lives and careers.

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NOT WITHOUT YOU! Your membership is vital to NJJS’s mission to promote and preserve America’s great art form—JAZZ!

THANK YOU and welcome

to all who have recently joined or renewed their memberships. We can’t do what we do without you!

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